I find it incredibly silly that pundits can declare with any sense of authority that they can predict the outcome of the presidential election. That being said, making predictions is incredibly amusing, so below are my predictions for the 2012 presidential election. These predictions are based on polling data and what I believe to be important variables in determining voter preferences and turnout, but I have about as much confidence in these predictions as my yearly March Madness bracket.
Continue reading
Are Charter Schools Avoiding Students With Special Needs?
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this Tuesday that sparked a flurry of controversy when it found that, on average, charter schools are enrolling fewer students with disabilities than traditional public schools. The report found that around 8 percent of students enrolled at charter schools have disabilities, compared to the 11 percent of students at public schools. The reaction to this has been predictable, as a common talking point against charters is that they only take the “best kids” (a concept insulting in its own right) and the others are left to drown in the public school system. Diane Ravitch and others see this as confirmation that charter schools are discriminating against students with disabilities. Are they right?
Continue reading
Rushing To Judgement And The Case of George Zimmerman And Trayvon Martin
As a general rule, I have always tried to avoid public trials that obtain an exorbitant amount of national media coverage, mostly because crimes happen every day, and the selective outrage of the media for the “crime of the year” tends to annoy me. However, the recent revelations in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case has gained my attention, but probably not for the reasons you may think. I’m not going to go into the details of the case, because they have already been sifted through countless times for almost a week now. There are two things that really concerned me, though, the first being the complete failure of the Sanford police to initially investigate this case more thoroughly. While at first the facts were cloudy, the emergence of information about the 911 calls that Zimmerman made should have prompted a more detailed investigation into the shooting. There is no question that the Sanford police dropped the ball on this case, and it was originally quickly dismissed as a simple self-defense case. I’m not sure who initially brought the new facts about this case to national attention, but they should be commended for not allowing this to just be swept under the rug and forgotten about. Now, an investigation has been opened up by both the state and federal government into what really happened that night in the Sanford gated community. Now the legal system can takes its course to determine what exactly Zimmerman is guilty of, and what the punishment for that crime should be.
Continue reading
Why Colleges Of Education Don’t Like Teach For America
Over the past several years, Teach For America has become a highly controversial program as it has continued to spread throughout the United States. Much of that controversy stems from the idea that a 5-6 week program in the summer is not enough time to fully prepare teachers. Dean Renee Middleton, of the Ohio University College of Education and Human Services, was opposed to the launch of Teach For America in Ohio. In her testimony to the Ohio House of Representatives, she said that teachers needed to be “qualified,” and the Teach For America training was not adequate enough, because it was so short. Her thoughts echo that of the majority of Colleges of Education, and other leaders in education.
At least initially, I personally found it odd that colleges of education would oppose an effort like Teach For America to try and fill struggling schools with teachers. Most of the schools that Teach For America targets have an unbearably high turnover rate, and some of these schools have trouble filling these positions year after year. In many cases, Teach For America is filling positions that would have otherwise gone unfilled. Shouldn’t our education leaders want to try anything that might help to put competent teachers in the neediest of schools?
Continue reading
